From Mexico

Skimmer part 2

The bottom of the skimmer has a single port. It is connected directly to the piping. Maybe there was a port for a hose, but it was either broken off or removed. Anyway I would have had to remove the basket to access it and I do not like the idea of vacuuming directly to the pump.

I understand there is a thing called a SUCTION PLATE. The dealers here say it is no longer available for the Hayward 1096. Being an oilfield hand used to winging it and makeshift connections I produced my own. Not pretty but fully functional



So there you have it. Open for comments

Skimmer 3

Kim, hello!!


The created gap, but added nothing... the gap is not lined in plastic, just the bare cement.
As far as I can tell, they cut/chopped the top of a Hayward 1096 skimmer. The access cover was placed a good 4 inches higher to match the deck. They are not really aligned either.

I am not sure if I should line this. Or be concerned of falling rocks. Or maybe I am overthinking this too much?




The skimmer is doing it's normal job right. Perhaps the skimmer is a little to high and the "correct" water level is too near the edge of the pool.
The problem came when attempting to vacuum. I could not use it and I had no vacuum port. When they told me the vacuum plate was no longer available I had to make do. My adapter works great and I get enough suction to trap my fingers in front of the hose. I can now pick up small rocks and sand from the bottom. If anything I want to ask if anybody else has made a vacuum plate like this for comments or improvements. If not, then I am sharing my hack.

The walls and sides are rough but solid. Any loose items have already fallen. I did find a few sizeable chunks of cement in the pump suction strainer when I started using the skimmer. They seemed to be left overs from the construction phase, and they tell me that the pool was never filled to allow the skimmer to work.
As the chunks have not reappeared, I will just leave it as is

The suction plate required me to sand away a little bit of cement crust in the cover access hole. But no large pieces to be disloged

The pool is at least two and a half year old.

I will make better pictures of the suction plate and submit for reference.

Today I drained/filled another 4000 lts... this will bring the CYA down to 70~100.

Kim

Are you saying they built the pool and never filled it and used it? I bet there is some interesting back story to this property you bought
The pool was filled, but never to the level that would allow the skimmer to work. About 3 inches short of where I am running it. I may have to risk taking a picture of the skimmer from the wet end to explain this. In my noob opinion somebody screwed up and placed the skimmer too high in relation to the edge of the pool

And yes... the house is full of surprises. They had an indoor electric water heater (not related to the pool) on the roof. The wiring exposed and the tank corroded to the point where it was leaking hot water to the roof. That is next in my "honey do" list.

As for this weekend report. The pool was heavily used. Drain/Refill 20% done. CYA now estimated 60~80. FC still 20~25. Vacuum working and picking up all the solids from the bottom. Backwashed sand filter.

Will hold FC in 15 for the next week and wait for my Christmas gift kit before fine tuning all the other parameters

Re: the skimmer post

Dear all
So today I am celebrating a full week of clean water. My pool is trouble free, and I am now settled on a routine to skim it every day. I am running about 2ppm / 900ml of bleach a day and maintaining 15~20 ppm

I now have a non-chemical question. Should the return water jets break the water surface and make turbulence? Or should they point low enough that they are barely noticed on the water surface?

Right now my jets break the water a little, so as to help push stuff into the direction of the skimmer.

Let me know if I would need pictures to clarify this

From Mexico - Yucatan

Other bits of progress

I went away for two days, left the pool with the timer on. My wife added 1lt (equivalent to 2ppm Chlorine according to pool math) in the mornings. Pool survived, FC stayed at 15~20ish (remember I am still eyeballing this to a 50~70 CYA), kids played in the pool heavily while I was away. No complaints

Finding the expected hairs, drowned ants, bees and a small plastic dinosaur in the skimmer. I take that as vindication that I now have the correct water level. Lucky for me I get very little leaves and sticks

Vacuum works great, I got it now to a routine of topping the water level, with the high water level vacuum the bottom. After the vacuuming is done backwash the filter and bring the level down just a tad.

Finding a little cloud of very fine off white material in the deep end of the pool. It only shows up if you disturb it with the skimmer net, or with the vacuum. Not sure if sand/cement dust from the construction next door. In any case, it gets caught in the sand filter and I see it come out during the backwash.

Finally, I am now running a tab of how much I spend in the bleach. I am running about 8 litres a week, roughly MXN80 pesos... so four dollars worth of chemical per week.
Previously the pool guy had us running north of USD20 a week in the never ending puck/algaecide/clarifier cycle

Thanks for your encouragement.